The Liberty War || Infinity War & Endgame

Chapter Thirty-Four: Into That Good Night

Picture is Tatiana Maslany as Emma Barnes.

Music is "Ending" by Isak Danielson.

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CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: Into That Good Night

"Tony, you fought him."

Tony's face turned grim and tired. Even on the recording, I can see the gears that turned in his head, the calculations his intelligent brain ran, constantly shifting between fighting and fleeing. I know that feeling all too well; it's something Howard did, too.

"Who told you that?" he asked, his voice spiteful and sharp like knives. It's in that moment that I realize which choice he'd made. He stood and gestured dramatically. "Didn't fight him, no. He wiped my face with a planet while a Bleecker Street magician gave away the Stone. That's what happened. There was no fight--"

"--Okay." Steve cut him off, trying to keep him from getting too worked up. "Did he give you any clues? Any coordinates, anything?"

Tony rolled his eyes and scoffed in disbelief. "I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision." He mumbles angrily under his breath. "I didn't wanna believe it, thought I was dreaming."

Steve tried to control the situation by saying, "Tony, I'm gonna need you to focus--" Turns out, that was the wrong thing to say.

"--And I needed you!" Tony stumbled as he moved towards Steve. He turned his dark eyes towards my best friend with a malicious glint I haven't seen from him since the betrayal of Civil War. "As in past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late, buddy."

Steve from five years ago sighed, a heavy sound that comes through clear as day, even on a spotty recording from the Avengers compound security cameras. "I'm sorry," he breathed, true and sincere.

Tony started pulling at the wires and tubes attached to him, forcing his frail body out of the medical confinements that Pepper made him use once he arrived back on Earth. "You know what I need? I need to shave. And I believe I remember telling--"

Steve, Rhodey, and Bruce attempted to stop him, stating his name in a concerned voice over and over again, but Tony was having none of that. He even pushed Pepper away as he stumbled around his wheelchair and IV stand. His actions screamed, "I can stand on my own."

"--that what we needed was a suit of armor around the world. Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms, or not. That's what we needed."

The time for gentle actions and babying was over, and Steve's expression shifted slightly at Tony's comment. "Well, that didn't work out, did it?"

"I said we'd lose," he spat as he stood eye-to-eye with Steve. "You said, 'We'll do that together, too.' Well, guess what, Cap? We lost! You weren't there. But that's what we do, right? Our best work after the fact? We're the Avengers? We're the A-vengers? Not the Pre-vengers?"

A soft knock on my bedroom door brings me out of my stupor. Standing in the doorway, leaning against the metal, Rose wears a solemn expression. Her eyes land on the tiny holo I've been watching over and over on my bed. The small device projects the recording into the air, the last few moments from the original Avengers dissolution.

"I got nothing for you, Cap. I got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada." Tony's voice rose to the point of shouting as he visibly trembled in anger. "No trust, you liar." Tony reached for the Arc Reactor anchored to his chest. He pulled it out with a clanking metal sound and handed it to Steve. "Here, take this. You find him and you put that on." He shoves it away from him, along with Steve's hand. "You hide."